The present invention relates to a medicine wrapping machine for wrapping each administered amount of a medicine prepared based on doctor's prescription in a medicine wrapping sheet at a hospital or a pharmacy, a medicine wrapping sheet and a divided wrapping bag used for the same.
Conventionally, in the case of administering a medicine prepared in accordance with a prescription to a patient, a medicine necessary for one administration has been divided and wrapped in the same divided wrapping bag by an automatic medicine wrapping machine or the like to be administered so that necessity of the patient to combine different medicines to take each time can be eliminated (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8 (1996)-11805).
As a material of the medicine wrapping bag, a wrapping sheet (glassine paper) which is easily handled by the automatic medicine wrapping machine, high in internal visibility to be easily prepared and monitored, high in openness (easy opening) of the dividing and wrapping sheet etc., and recently a wrapping sheet such as polyethylene laminate cellophane paper or polyethylene laminate glassine paper have generally been used.
However, since cellophane or the like is expensive, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate or the like which can be brought into contact with foods and whose safety has been verified has recently been used as a material of the medicine wrapping bag.
However, if the divided wrapping bag is manufactured by using polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate or the like as a raw material, while handleability, and easy preparation and monitoring at the time of medicine dividing and wrapping are not inferior at all compared with the case of using conventional glassine paper, cellophane paper or the like, it is difficult for an aged person or a child to tell in what position and how the divided wrapping bag is opened when he opens the divided wrapping bag to take the medicine. Thus, there has been a problem in its handleability.